People: Jun. 8, 1987

She blasted off into history four years ago by becoming the first American woman in space. Now Astronaut Sally Ride, 36, is set to explore the academic frontier. Her new mission: science fellow at the Center for International - Security and Arms Control, a think tank at Stanford University. Ride's switch to the private sector, effective Aug. 15, comes in the wake of her divorce from Astronaut Steven Hawley and reports that the ambitious spacewoman had become restless at NASA. "It was going to be a long time until she flew again," confides a colleague, "and she wasn't particularly turned on...

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